


The Power of Names

by miss_grey



Series: What We Do In The Dark [48]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Demons, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Witchcraft, demon ron speirs, hunter dick winters, vampire nix, witch gene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21829522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_grey/pseuds/miss_grey
Summary: “No,” Dick said, shaking his head vehemently, rising from the table with a clatter of his chair, “I don’t like it.”
Relationships: Babe Heffron/Eugene Roe, Carwood Lipton/Ronald Speirs, Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters
Series: What We Do In The Dark [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1366063
Comments: 18
Kudos: 61





	The Power of Names

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, boys....

“No,” Dick said, shaking his head vehemently, rising from the table with a clatter of his chair, “I don’t like it.” 

Gene stared mulishly up at Dick from his seat at the table, eyes exhausted but desperate. “You said that already. Ain’t got a choice.”

“We do!” Dick growled. “You do!” His hands were curled at his sides and Nix could practically feel the fear and anger rolling off of him in waves. Dick looked like he wanted to lock Gene in a room and leave him there, go off and save everyone himself. But Dick wasn’t stupid, and neither was Gene. Nix knew that the witch had a point.

“I told you why it has to be this way. Dike said that if we try to pull a fast one on him, he’ll kill Edward. I believe ‘im. This is somethin’ I gotta do.”

“And _him?_ Why him?! We don’t need him.”

Gene shrugged. “Desperate times. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. And besides…to assume he wouldn’t try ta get involved is foolish. Best plan for it, instead.”

Dick frowned down at the witch, shoulders tense, eyes narrowed. “I don’t like it.”

Gene shook his head, sadly, and Nix could see how difficult it was for the man to hold himself together. He was fraying at the edges and right now Dick was unravelling him. “Dick,” Gene sighed, “promise me that you’ll do whatever it takes to get Edward and Lipton outta there.” Dick continued to frown, his own stubbornness on full display. Nix knew the look: Dick didn’t want to concede, didn’t want to make it seem like he agreed with Gene or approved of his plan. He obviously didn’t. Hell, Nix didn’t like it either, but he’d been through enough to understand that sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Sometimes, you weren’t the one calling the shots. Gene’s eyes, wide and dark, deep as the ocean, fixed on Dick. “Please,” he murmured.

Nix took a small step forward, then, and laid a hand on Dick’s arm. When Dick turned his wild, trapped-looking eyes to Nix, Nix rubbed his thumb across Dick’s warm skin and nodded his head softly. They stared at each other for a long, long moment, and Nix hoped that Dick understood everything he couldn’t say. Finally, Dick’s shoulders slumped and he sighed, resigned. He met Gene’s eyes and said “I promise.”

Nix knew it was necessary. He understood. Even still, a chill went down his spine and a memory surfaced, blurred by time and a yellowish fog, of the general telling them all, back in 1917, that they were headed to the front.

* * *

Gene shivered and hunched further into Edward’s hoodie. It was soft and warm and smelled like the other man. Gene needed that now. Needed whatever comfort and strength he could draw. He was about to do something stupid.

Behind him, he could practically feel the weight of Dick and Nix’s eyes on his back as he made his way over the lawn with the dusk settling around him. He was losing light fast and soon it’d be dark, but all he needed was another moment of light. Just one more. Enough to get this done. Then he’d have time to do what needed to be done. To prepare. Gather his strength. Make his peace.

Reaching the edge of the manicured lawn, the ward shimmering, barely visible in front of him, Gene stopped. He closed his eyes and allowed a wave of power to swell up inside of him. He focused it, shaped it, and aimed it at its target. A shiver ran down his spine and the air rippled around him as he intoned the summons: “ _The Demon_ _Ron Speirs.”_

* * *

Edison, New Jersey

_“I smell blood.”_

_Ron’s fists clenched and his eyes went full black for a minute. He wanted to destroy, to obliterate. Oh, he would. He most definitely would. “A lot?” He asked, through clenched teeth._

_“No,” Luz decided, still sniffing the air, “just a few drops.”_

_“That’s enough,” Ron growled, “they’ll pay for every drop. Can you smell where they headed next?”_

_“Yeah,” Luz said, voice growing soft with realization. “Yeah, I can. Northeast. I think they went to New York.”_

_Ron felt a brutal smile curl his lips. “Good. We’re close.” He opened his mouth to tell Luz to get back into the car, when he halted in his steps, his breath catching, all the hair on the back of his neck rising as if from static. “No,” he growled, clutching at his belly where pain twisted suddenly like a knife. “No!” He began to shake, and his vision went in and out. He collapsed to his knees and he was vaguely aware of Luz shouting somewhere behind him. His being began to unravel, then, the particles of his body disintegrated, and he felt a pull that could only mean one thing. He shook, and shook, and shook. “NO!!!” He roared. He clutched at himself, clutched at the ground, fought to keep himself whole, but the force was too powerful. “No!” He shouted, as his voice was torn from him. His last thought was of Carwood, of how close they were, how close…. Then, in the space between seconds, he ceased to exist._

His entire being, torn asunder, broken down to his most fundamental pieces, was hurled through a vortex of space and time. _Pain, pain, pain._ Indescribable. On the heels of the pain came a tidal wave of absolute rage: it was blinding, it was all-consuming, _it put him back together again._

He landed, feet first, the rest of his molecules falling in line, with a billow of smoke and the fires of Hell as his shepherd. The moment he was himself again, he sprang forward, eyes fixed on that _motherfucking witch,_ his lip curled, teeth bared, ready to kill. Decimate. Destroy. _Utterly obliterate._ He stormed forward, growling, but the witch didn’t flinch. Ron was going to tear the witch limb from limb, he was going to tear through whatever petty magic got in his way, and then he was going to find the demons who had taken Carwood and by the time he was done with them…. He stalked forward, murderous, eyes pitch black…but an invisible barrier halted his progress. He narrowed his eyes. _Ward._ Snarling, he slammed his palms against it, over and over again, fueled by absolute rage. _He’d been so close! So fucking close! CARWOOD!!!_

“HOW DARE YOU?” Ron roared through the impossible, unbreakable barrier. The witch stood behind its safety, arms crossed, staring back at Ron impassively. “I’M GONNA KILL YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I ALMOST HAD HIM! I ALMOST GOT HIM BACK AND YOU CALLED ME HERE! FOR WHAT? I’M GONNA SNUFF YOU OUT AS SOON AS I BREAK THIS DAMN WARD DOWN YOU LITTLE PRICK!!!”

The witch strode forward so that he could stare into Ron’s eyes, only the force of his magic keeping him safe. “Shut up.” The witch snapped and Ron’s jaw clicked shut in shock. “I brought you here to make a deal.”

Ron’s lip curled in disgust. “Wrong kind of demon, witch,” he hissed. 

The witch continued to stare at him, his dark eyes unimpressed, implacable. “Does that mean you can’t make one?”

“With you?” Ron smiled nastily. “Go to Hell.”

“I’m gonna do you a favor,” the witch said. “I’m gonna take you to Lipton.”

A jolt of electricity spiked through Ron and he was suddenly interested. “Carwood?” He clenched his fists. “Where is he?”

The witch quirked a brow. “Like I said, I’m gonna do you a favor, but I want one in return. A proper deal. The kind you can’t go back on.”

Ron forcibly uncurled his fists and pressed a palm against the ward. “Name it.”

“First things first….”

“Get to it, witch!”

“Are you certain you can save ‘im without killing him?”

“Carwood?” Ron felt a twisting pain in his chest at the thought of anything less. “Of course I can.”

The witch cocked his head, studying Ron silently, measuring him. What Ron wouldn’t give to have the ward removed from between them. What he wouldn’t give to wrap his hands around the witch’s neck and press until the man gave him what he wanted. What he wouldn’t give….

“Your word is bindin’, ain’t it?”

Ron assessed the witch. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

The witch dipped his head. “I want your word that you’ll stay away from Edward.”

Ron snorted. “I have no reason to pursue the other one. It’s Carwood I want.”

“Not even for revenge?” The witch pushed, and of course he was right. Ron frowned. “I want your word.”

“So that _worm_ Dike is going to get away with what he did to Carwood?”

“No,” the witch said. “I’ll deal with him. It’s my affair. I want your word you will only concern yourself with Lipton if I lead you there.”

“Is that the deal, then? You take me to Carwood and I leave Dike alone?”

“That’s part of it, yeah.”

Ron narrowed his eyes, impatient now. He could feel the seconds ticking away, could almost hear Carwood’s heartbeat from here. _So close…._ “What else do you want?”

The witch swallowed thickly—Ron watched his throat bob—and then his eyes hardened with resolve. “If this doesn’t go according to plan…if I can’t get rid of Dike… you make sure I don’t walk outta there.”

Ron quirked a brow, intrigued. He took a step back from the ward and held out a hand, waiting. Waiting. Then he watched, impressed, as the witch walked through the ward and clasped Ron’s hand tightly. Ron would never admit out loud that he admired the witch’s nerve. A smile curled Ron’s lips and a red glow suffused their hands as he pledged: “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Remember dear readers, comments are love! Please let me know what you thought :) Also, feel free to come say hi on tumblr. I'm @realhunterswearplaid.


End file.
